An astronomy telescope is a precision instrument, the maintenance of which directly affects the use and life of the telescope, so it must be used and kept by special personnel, and non-professionals should not easily disassemble and repair.  

1. Maintenance of optical systems

(1) Ensure that the telescope is placed in a ventilated, dry and clean place; All eyepieces, prisms, secondary imaging mirrors, and other small optical accessories should be put into a drying box or drying tank with desiccant when not in use, and pay attention to replace the desiccant.

Do not use the telescope in snow, rain, wind, sand, humidity (more than 85%) weather, do not open the objective lens cover, especially for the mirror telescope without sealed Windows, dust is the biggest enemy. In the south of the mildew, the season can be the mirror tube with airtight plastic bags at both ends, placed inside the bag of desiccant (do not contact the lens), and pay attention to often replacing the new desiccant, in order to keep the objective dry.

(2) If there is dust and other dirt on the optical mirror, gently blow it with an ear ball, not with your mouth, so as to avoid spittle splashing on the mirror; Never wipe with a cloth or bristle brush to avoid damaging the coating and mirror; Never touch the optical mirror with your hand.

The fingerprints left will often corrode the mirror and cause permanent marks. If the fingerprint is accidentally left and needs to be cleaned as soon as possible, drop 50% of the mixture of absolute ethanol and ether on the clean degreasing gauze, gently wipe it clockwise or counterclockwise from the center of the mirror to the edge of the mirror (only gently wipe it in one direction, not back and forth), and constantly replace the degreasing cotton ball until it is cleaned.

In addition to paying attention to the protection at ordinary times, the telescope mirror shall be cleaned irregularly. Do not use organic solvents for the lens to avoid damaging the antireflection film; For the aluminized mirror, try not to wipe it to avoid damage or falling off of the aluminum film.

(3) Portable telescope as far as possible not in the fog is very heavy forest, water, and seaside observation, if forced to observe, observation should be wiped as soon as possible according to the above method.

(4) The mirror of the reflecting telescope should be coated regularly (generally 1 ~ 3 years) to ensure that the mirror has good reflectivity.

Maintenance of large and high-end telescopes is best assisted by the professional staff of the astronomical Unit.

2. Maintenance of rotary clock

(1) The mechanical and tracking system of the telescope is a high-precision transmission system, but because of its slow speed, it generally does not need regular maintenance, but according to the requirements of the manual, do not overload use and regularly add the same type of lubricating oil (grease); If the type of lubricating oil (grease) is different, please clean the original lubricating oil (grease) with kerosene before adding the new lubricating oil (grease), be careful not to mix different types of lubricating oil (grease). Conditional units or individuals, if can be used after a few years, ask professional personnel to clean again, oil, adjust, will be very beneficial.

(2) The control system of the telescope should be checked irregularly and should be operated strictly in accordance with the requirements of the manual. At ordinary times, water droplets, water vapor, and foreign bodies should be prevented from entering the circuit. Batteries should be removed and stored well when not used for a long time.

3. Maintenance of electric control system

The electronic control system of the telescope varies greatly due to different models and functions, but the attention points of operation and maintenance are basically the same:

(1) Check whether the input AC voltage is the same as the rated voltage of the telescope. When using the DC power supply, pay attention to whether the rated voltage of the battery string or battery meets the requirements for electronic control of the telescope.

(2) In the high-power drive circuit, please pay attention to the heat sink of the high-power tube do not touch the short circuit, so as not to burn the tube.

(3) All power supply or electric control lines should not be hard pulled and randomly crossed, so as not to break.

4. Maintenance of telescope lenses

The first thing to note is that telescopes do not need to be cleaned often. Because a little dust will not have any impact on the effect, but if you wipe it with incorrect operation methods, it may wear and scratch the coating. In the long run, it will be a tragedy. In that case, why wipe it? As long as it doesn’t fall on a large piece of mud, it doesn’t need to be managed at all. In this regard, carelessness is good.

If you really need it, how do you do it?

(1) If there are silt and other particles on the lens, it must be removed before formal rubbing (because they are harder than the glass, may scratch the lens). This can be blown open or lightly brushed off with a soft cloth.

(2) Find a clean cotton cloth, or napkin (no hard particles inside, won’t damage the lens, and won’t easily scum).

(3) Looking for medical alcohol. If alcohol is not available, you can find the detergent you use to wash vegetables, and then dilute the detergent to 1/10 of an aqueous solution.

(4) Lightly moisten a cotton cloth or napkin with alcohol (or an aqueous solution of detergent), just enough. Rub your lenses gently.

5. How to test the shock and collision resistance of the telescope?

The shockproof ability of the telescope is a very important part, so how to test it?

A lot of telescopes, no matter what grade, will take seismic resistance, knock against and other similar words to describe and advertise their products how strong, how comparable to military products, so a lot of mirror friends buyback to make up careless. The result is often that the mirror axis was thrown into a crash.

In fact, the person in charge of the manufacturer is doing the knock (fall) test is conditional, some manufacturers will be very clear in the product manual is 1.5 meters high 5 surface sand test. Said specifically is: on the height of 1.5 meters high, the mirror does free fall, with 5 face fall, is fall in the sand compaction, compaction of sand is the footprints of people standing in the above no obvious this hardness, not straight not stare blankly into the concrete floor and it broke, it into the cement if they fell suddenly estimation was ended.

Military telescope tests are similar. They are not directly thrown into the rock and concrete ground, so these tests are relative, not very absolute, more advanced products or higher-grade products will use some metal materials, composite materials to make the mirror body, outer bread glue. It also strives to reduce the damage caused by collision and impact on internal optical components to a certain extent. There will also be some designs on internal structures to reduce the damage caused by vibration, but only under certain conditions. Beyond this range, it is useless.

Don’t be superstitious about how military mirrors must be anti-seismic and forbidden to fall. Civil products are worse. Good civil products are no worse than JP in many aspects. All binoculars are afraid of falling, so it’s better to be careful when using them.

A good telescope is shatter-resistant, waterproof and fog-proof, and can withstand harsh environments.